Penn State president agreed not to report Sandusky abuse, emails suggest

Graham Spanier allegedly failed to report abuse claims despite knowing that inaction could leave Penn State 'vulnerable'

A former president of Penn State University failed to report allegations of child sex abuse against Jerry Sandusky despite knowing inaction could leave the college "vulnerable", according to emails seen by several news organisations.

Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, is currently awaiting sentencing after being found guilty of 45 counts of sexually assaulting underage boys over a 15-year period.

But with Sandusky now behind bars - potentially for the rest of his life - attention is turning to whether there was a cover-up at the university, one that may have allowed Sandusky to carry on with his abuse for many years. Two of Sandusky's former colleagues, athletic director Tim Curley and finance official Gary Schultz, have already been charged with perjury and failing to alert authorities to one act of sexual abuse.

And in a potentially damaging development, former university president Graham Spanier has been cited as another member of staff who knew about allegations of abuse but did nothing to alert authorities.

CNN said on Saturday that it had seen emails in which Spanier discusses with Curley and Schultz a 2001 incident in which Sandusky was allegedly caught abusing a boy in a shower.

The messages reportedly show that Spanier was supportive of the decision not to hand Sandusky over to the authorities, but fretted that the decision could cause Penn State problems further down the line.

rest at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/30/penn-state-president-sandusky-abuse?newsfeed=true